SNB worries about threats posed by world’s lowest interest rate

Bloomberg reports that Swiss National Bank policy makers watching the effects of negative interest rates on the economy are worrying about the real-estate bubble that their policy is helping to foster.

Aware that any shift in their sub-zero stance could unsettle currency markets, officials are likely instead to highlight the availability of regulatory tools to cool the property market at their decision on Thursday. 

Switzerland has experience dealing with property bubbles amid the constraints of its ultra-loose monetary policy, and previously resorted to such so-called macroprudential tools to keep gains in check. The country is one among several from New Zealand to Denmark whose real-estate markets have spiraled higher in the wake of the pandemic. 

Any commentary on the property market will accompany the SNB’s quarterly decision at 07:30 GMT on Thursday. It’s almost certain to reiterate its buzzword for the franc as being “highly valued” to justify its easy monetary-policy stance with the world’s lowest interest rate of -0.75%. Officials will release new growth and inflation forecasts. 

Designed to prevent too much of a rise in the currency, the SNB’s ultra-easy policy of negative rates and occasional currency-market interventions has protected economic growth at the expense of a buoyant real-estate market. A UBS Group AG indicator deems the situation there as close to a bubble.